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Chavez's Secret Nuclear Program

(Foreign Policy) Roger F. Noriega - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been developing a nuclear program for two years with the collaboration of Iran, a nuclear rogue state. Venezuela is also helping Iran obtain uranium and evade international sanctions. Chavez's decision to rely on one of the world's worst proliferators to help develop his country's capabilities in this sensitive technology sets alarm bells ringing. A November 2008 contract between the Venezuelan state-run firm CVG Minerven and the Iranian government firm Impasco grants the Iranians a "gold mine" concession in the heart of the Roraima basin in the southeastern state of Bolivar, home to one of the world's largest deposits of uranium. A "cement plant" processes ore from the Impasco mine, but has yet to produce a bag of cement. Instead, it serves as a conduit for moving ore to a port on the Orinoco River where it is transferred onto Iranian-flagged vessels on the Atlantic Ocean. Security Council Resolution 1929, passed this June, ordered all governments to prohibit any Iranian involvement in "uranium mining, production or use of nuclear materials and technology." The writer is a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.
2010-10-11 09:30:11
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